Pocahontas's POV
My heart was breaking.
I looked at John sitting there, on the ground, tied to a post. His head was lowered and he hadn't heard me come in. I hated seeing him that way. I bit my lip as I made my way over to him. He still didn't hear me and he didn't look up.
"John?" I whispered and he raised his eyes to mine.
"Pocahontas!" He said and I hugged him hard.
"I'm so sorry, John!" I said, tears welling up in my eyes.
"Why?" John asked, shrugging.
"This is all my fault." I sobbed.
"Pocahontas, this isn't your fault!" John tried to assure me, but I was unmoved.
"Yes it is!" I wailed.
"How? Tell me how this is your fault." John said.
"If I hadn't gone out there, Nakoma wouldn't have been worried and she wouldn't have gone to Kocoum and Kocoum wouldn't have come after me, see me kiss you, and then attack!" I said but John shook his head.
"No, Pocahontas, if anyone is to blame here it's me." He said.
"How?" I asked.
"I asked you to come and meet me tonight, so it's my fault. I'm sorry, Pocahontas."
"Don't be." I said, trying to smile a little, but my father's sentence came back into my mind and my smile vanished.
"Pocahontas, please don't cry." John pleaded. I only sobbed more. Didn't he understand? He was going to die and it was all my fault!
"It would have been better if we'd never met, none of this would have happened." I sobbed.
"Pocahontas, look at me." He said and I looked at him. "I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you."
"What?" I asked.
"I had to meet you. If I hadn't, I'd still be the man I was."
"What do you mean?"
"You've changed me. If I never knew you, I'd have no idea how precious life can be." I wiped away my tears.
"I was so foolish. I thought our love would make the whole world bright." I shook my head sadly. "I never knew that fear and hate could be so strong. Still, my heart is saying we were right." I said and buried my face in his shoulder again.
"I love you." I whispered.
"I love you, too." John said back.
"Pocahontas? We'd better go." It was Nakoma. I sobbed more.
"I can't leave you." I cried.
"You never will. No matter what happens to me, I'll always be with you. Forever."
John's POV
I watched as Pocahontas's shadow disappeared. I looked up at the stars.
"Don't ever forget, Pocahontas, I love you." I said and I knew that somehow, she would get my message. I thought back on what had just happened. I would never see freedom or Pocahontas again.
Pocahontas's POV
Don't ever forget, Pocahontas, I love you.
The wind seemed to carry a soft message of love through the night as I paddled my canoe towards Grandmother Willow. Meeko and Percy were seated in front of me, both in peace. If those two could get along, why couldn't mine and John's people?
Nakoma had tried to tell me it was her fault. I had stopped her.
"Nakoma, this isn't your fault. Personally, I don't know whose fault it is." I said.
"Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to come to me."
"Thank you, Nakoma, I will." I said and left.
Flit buzzed quietly around my head and landed on my shoulder. He let out a chirp of sadness.
"I know, Flit. I'll miss him, too." I said. I continued to paddle my way towards Grandmother Willow. I stopped briefly and looked up at the sky.
"I love you, John." I whispered. I hoped that John would get my message the same way that I had gotten his.
John's POV
I love you, John.
I smiled, knowing Pocahontas had gotten her message. I knew she would never forget. And I knew that she knew that I would never forget, either.
Pocahontas's POV
"Pocahontas?" Grandmother Willow asked as I paddled into her glade once more. Could it really have been only an hour or so ago that John and I had met here and had shared our first kiss? And could this really be the place where the only man I'd ever loved was taken prisoner?
"Wingapo, Grandmother Willow." I said through my tears.
"What happened child? What's wrong? Where's John?" She asked and my vision blurred again.
"Grandmother Willow, you heard that sound like thunder?" I asked and Grandmother Willow nodded.
"Well, Kocoum followed me here and he attacked John. He would have killed him had John's friend Thomas not shot him with his gun. Kocoum was killed. John ordered Thomas out of here and he ran." I said and Grandmother Willow nodded again, concern on her face.
"Then what, child?" She asked.
"Well," I began, tears beginning to fall freely. "Some warriors from the village heard the shot and ran here. They saw Kocoum's body and I guess they thought John did it. The captured him and took him to the village." I said. Grandmother Willow sighed.
"I only hope that your father will listen to John." She said and I shook my head sadly.
"No, they won't." I cried. "They're going to kill him at sunrise, Grandmother Willow, and there's nothing I can do to stop it!"
"Pocahontas, try! Try, child! You have to stop them!" She said, but I was once again unmoved.
"I can't. I'm so lost." I said. Percy sat down sadly beside me and whimpered. Then, Meeko slid down one of Grandmother Willow's branches and held something out to me. It was John's compass.
"The compass?" I asked, taking it from him. I stared at for a few minutes. Surely it meant something…it had to have a purpose…
It helps you find your way when you get lost…
"Lost? Compass! Of course!" I said, but then I stopped and looked closer at the compass. The needle was shaped like a spinning arrow!
"The arrow!" Grandmother Willow proclaimed and I stood up in excitement.
"I was right! He's the one the arrow points to!" I said, but just as I said it, the early rays of sunlight hit the compass.
"Sunrise! No!" I cried.
"It's not too late, Pocahontas!" Grandmother Willow said and I looked back at the compass. The needle spun uncontrollably and then, all at once, it stopped. My heart skipped when I saw that it was pointing at the sunrise- at John.
"Go, Pocahontas! You know your path! Now you must follow it!"
Without another word, I ran from the stump as fast as I could. I didn't have much time. I felt my mother's presence as I ran with the wind. I had to win this race. I had to get to John…before it was too late.
John's POV
I felt the ties on my hands being cut free and I looked up. A warrior scowled down at me. In his hand was a rope with a loop. What in the world was that for? Sunlight poured in from the hole at the top of the hut and I knew my time had come.
The ropes snapped and I struggled to be free, but the warriors wouldn't let that happen. I wasn't going without a fight!
The warrior twisted my arms behind me again and retied me. Then, the warrior with the rope put the rope around my neck. Geez, that hurt!
"Bring him out!" I heard Powhatan order and the warriors dragged me to the doorway and shoved me out. With the other warrior pulling at the rope around my neck, it made me stumble. I was hauled back to my feet and we started out.
Pocahontas's POV
I ran to the top of a small cliff.
I don't know what I can do. Still I know I've got to try!
I had to get to John.
John's POV
The warriors continued to shove me forward. Where were we going? I fought against the rope around my neck and the ones on my hands for that matter. If I could get my hands free, I could at least fight to escape. I struggled and about choked on that darn rope. But I knew it really didn't matter. I was about to die anyway.
Pocahontas's POV
I crashed through the brush. I didn't have much time! The sun was rising higher with every second. I knew that I could be hurt, but John's words rang in my ears.
I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.
He would rather die than not know me. I would rather die than not know him. I had to save him! Now that I had finally found love, I didn't want to ever lose it! John is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. I couldn't sit back and watch as my father killed him for something he didn't do. John didn't deserve to die. Especially the way my father was going to do it.
"Please, Mother, don't let me be too late!"
Spirits of the earth and sky, please don't let it be too late!
John's POV
A large plateau came into view and they led me up it. There was a large rock at the top.
What's that for? I wondered. I shrugged at the thought. I knew it didn't matter anyway.
Pocahontas's POV
Faster!
John's POV
Powhatan stopped at the edge. The warriors pushed me towards the rock and I suddenly knew what it was for. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Powhatan raise a large war club. I screwed my eyes closed. This was it.
Goodbye, Pocahontas. I love you.
Pocahontas's POV
Is the death of all I love carried in the drums of war?
John's POV
"NO!" It was Pocahontas. My eyes flew open as she threw herself across me and laid her head on top of mine.
"If you kill him, you'll have to kill me, too." Oh, God, no…
"Daughter, stand back!" Powhatan ordered, and even before Pocahontas said anything, I knew what her answer would be. She wasn't going to let her father kill me. But I wasn't going to let her father kill her.
"I won't!" She said in pure defiance. "I love him, Father." There went that secret.
"Look around you! This is where the path of hatred has brought us!" She laid her head atop mine again. "This is the path I choose, Father. What will yours be?"
What was she doing? Was she saying she really was willing to die for me? I was without a doubt willing to die for her.
"Pocahontas…" I whispered.
"I'm not going to let him hurt you."
A/N- What do ya'll think? These stories aren't as popular as Until Proven Guilty, but hey, they're fun! My Finding Love seems pretty popular and so does my Outsiders fic, They Didn't Know. If you've never read that book, I suggest you crawl out from under the rock you're living under and read it! Anyway, I took the lines from the If I Never Knew You scene from the Junior Novelization. It's good and I might as well put this down now:
Disclaimer: I do not own Disney's Pocahontas, the Junior Novelization, the lines from the song Savages or anything else…though some of the lines and thoughts are my own and so is this Author's Note!